The Hendees were an Oregon family of Portland and Milwaukie. Denny Hammond Hendee (1826-1907) was a pioneer photographer of Portland who had a studio and gallery on Washington Street near 1st in the 1850s. Born in Pittsford, Vermont in 1826, he came to California by sea in 1849 and moved to Oregon in 1853. His first wife, Elizabeth Vineyard, whom he married in 1853, died in 1862. He married his second wife, Maria (or Marie) P. White (d. 1909), in Portland in 1864. Denny Hendee's children from his first marriage were Samuel Blueford Hendee (1855-1921), Edwin Luellen Hendee (1859-1921), Otto Selwyn Hendee (b. 1854), and Ella (b. 1858, died in infancy). In 1909 the three sons formed a business called Hendee Brothers, which was involved in real estate and horticulture and was located in Milwaukie, Oregon, probably on the property they inherited from their parents. The business was dissolved in 1921 after the death of Samuel Hendee.
Samuel B. Hendee had married Isabelle Hoult in 1879. He worked for a time as a bursar and clerk for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. He and his wife had seven children, including Enoch Dee Hoult Hendee, born in 1883. Other children married into the McDonald and Clark families.
The bulk of the materials date from the early 20th century and include personal letters to Dee Hoult Hendee from family and friends; property records, including property in Clackamas County, Oregon; genealogies and marriage records; and fragmentary records of the Hendee Brothers firm. The business records include hand written minutes of the meetings of the board of directors. The file of personal correspondence contains letters sent to Dee Hendee, a landscape gardener in Milwaukie, and the son of Samuel B. and Isabelle Hendee. These include letters from Dee's sister Fanny Hendee Clark, and other members of his extended family. The letters contain details of family matters, difficulties of finding work, and household arrangements.
The collection is arranged in one series.
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The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any publication use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Hendee family papers, Mss 1351, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
The origin of the collection is unknown.
A photograph of Denny H. Hendee is located in the Subject Photo Files #0488, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
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